The present invention relates to electronic music apparatus and server apparatus which have network connection functions to acquire various music-related information via a communication network, such as the Internet, and methods and computer programs related thereto. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved electronic music apparatus and server apparatus which can significantly facilitate setting of an environment for connection to a communication network, and an improved network connection environment setting method and program. The terms “electronic music apparatus” used in connection with the present invention generically refer to electronic equipment having music-related reproduction/display functions, such as electronic musical instruments, automatic performance apparatus, audio reproduction apparatus, effecters, automatic musical composition apparatus, musical score creation/display apparatus, and computers having some type of music or sound reproduction software installed therein; namely, the terms “electronic music apparatus” are used herein to represent a concept embracing all types of music-related electronic music apparatus or equipment.
Today, a great varieties of services are provided from various websites managed by server apparatus, via the Internet and other communication networks. Great number of users can access their desired websites, using personal computers, PDAs and other electronic communication terminals, acquire various information, communicate with their friends and do shopping. Among the various services-providing websites on the communication networks are sites that provide various music-related information, such as information of music pieces and musical scores, and there have been known electronic music apparatus having a network (Internet) connection function capable of acquiring various music-related information from the services-providing website. One example of such electronic music apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2003/0000368 corresponding to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2002-372970. The electronic music apparatus, disclosed in the US2003/0000368 publication, is connectable to a communication network to acquire, as necessary, performance setting information from a server apparatus. Other relevant conventional techniques are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,511 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2000-148681.
The conventionally-known electronic music apparatus equipped with the network (Internet) connection function would present various inconveniences similar to those presented by the personal computers and PDAs. Namely, in order to receive services from a website on a communication network, it is necessary for each of the users of the electronic music apparatus to: establish accounts with an Internet service provider (ISP) and a communications carrier providing a telephone line or cable line; then purchase or rent network connecting equipment, such as a dialup modem or ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) modem, router, hub, wireless access point, and/or the like; then set up necessary hardware by connecting the network connecting equipment as instructed; and then accurately set, in the electronic music apparatus, a variety of items of connection environment information corresponding to the network connecting equipment and setting information thereof. However, display devices provided in such electronic music apparatus equipped with the network connection function have a small-size screen capable of displaying only a small amount of information at a time, and thus these electronic music apparatus only have low processing capabilities to, for example, display visual explanations etc. for setting the connection environment information in the apparatus. Therefore, it has been difficult or almost impossible for the users of the electronic music apparatus to appropriately set the connection environment information while being assisted by displayed highly-detailed explanations. Further, because there are only a few users of a high knowledge level who have experienced setting the connection environment information in their electronic music apparatus, it has been hardly possible for the users to teach each other about how to set the connection environment information, and so on. Consequently, in setting the connection environment information in the conventionally-known electronic music apparatus, the users would suffer from a great burden and have to perform time-consuming operation. For these reasons, there has been a great demand or need for an improved electronic music apparatus which allows the user to set the connection environment information relatively easily.